but defying all logic, this 46yo father of two from troy (!!) will be on project runway this season.

holy crap now i’ll actually have to watch it.

premieres tonight at 9pm on bravo.

i hope he’s not a total douche, although will any of us troyalty really be that surprised if he is?

check out this sweet graphic that ranks states based on their overall drunkenness.

interesting facts:
1. michigan is #24, right in the middle
2. wisconsin, home of the beast, is #1, not surprising since beer basically grows out of the concrete there.
3. alabama is #50, which i suppose is also not that surprising since they have some of the most ridiculous blue laws. then again, i also imagine there’s a lot of reason to want to drink in the lovely heart of dixie.
4. i’m impressed with RI, NH, and VT for bringing the pain at #7, #9, and #10. who woulda thought new englanders could drink like us from the midwest?

rare in skunkblog, is what i mean.

sigh. how well i know those banners. not surprisingly, troy didn’t win many of them. we were all too busy taking a half dozen APs. the sole exceptions: soccer, the ultimate white yuppie sport, and tennis, where asians are forced thrive.

barack obama will be holding a town hall at TROY HIGH SCHOOL — where i spent four glorious years overachieving, driven by blind ambition. this is probably the coolest thing that’s happened in troy since the north side of somerset mall opened.

some fun facts about troy that i just learned from wikipedia:
1. aileen wuornos lived in troy, where her path to serial killerdom was apparently honed.
1a. it’s the 12th most populous city in michigan, which for some reason is surprising to me. (why “1a?” i skipped this point, then someone commented, then i realized i didn’t know how to count, and then i fixed. bah)
2. “Based on property value, Troy is the second largest city in Michigan, second only to Detroit.” i’m not sure what this means, exactly, but it sounds impressive.
3. median family income = $98,752
4. troy high and athens have a shocking 99% graduation rate, although i’m sure it helps that we ship all our miscreants to niles.
5. they are going to demolish the old kmart headquarters and build “a landscaped square with boulevards lined with upscale shops, restaurants, offices, a theater, and condominiums.” just what a declining economy needs. more stores!

guy from livionia livonia won the mega millions jackpot and what’s he gonna do?
buy a bunch of crappy american (ford) cars for his family and possibly remarry his ex-wife, who suddenly wants to be back in the picture is enamored with his stunning intellect, sparkling personality, and prowess in bed. huh.

(chump.)

michigan sen. debbie stabenow’s remarkably young husband was caught with a hooker in february. in no particular order, interesting tidbits include:

1. he paid $150 for a blowjob. there’s debate whether this is a lot or a little. thoughts?
2. this happened in troy. it’s about 4 miles from where i live, and within eyeshot of my aunt’s house. actually, it’s less than a mile from police headquarters. i love troy.
3. stabenow is 57, he is 46. what’s w/ the cougar hunting?
4. they were married 5 years ago. it only took 5 years for things to go south.
5. “Athans was charged with driving on a suspended license.” he also had his license suspended? this guy cannot catch a break.

just read the story. it’s good.

michigan is one of four states that spends more on its corrections system than higher ed.

now i know numbers like these can’t really be compared, especially b/c the states on this list (vermont, oregon, and connecticut) are of varying sizes, geographically and population-wise, but i think i can confidently say that being #2 on this is no good.

the real problem is less our higher ed funding is low, but rather…we have SO MANY PRISONERS. we are the 8th most populous state, yet we have the 6th largest prison population. at least we’re not texas, whose prisoner to nonprisoner ratio is 1:140 (michigan’s is 1:200).

feel free to look at the report and wikipedia to check my numbers.

tommy amaker, former men’s basketball coach at michigan, is doing his best at bringing some state school flavor to harvard.

Like all the universities in the Ivy League, Harvard does not award athletic scholarships.
Yet the group of six recruits expected to join the team next season is rated among the nation’s 25 best. This is partly because Harvard Coach Tommy Amaker, who starred at Duke and coached in the Big East and Big Ten conferences, has set his sights on top-flight recruits. It is also because Harvard is willing to consider players with a lower academic standing than previous staff members said they were allowed to. Harvard has also adopted aggressive recruiting tactics that skirt or, in some cases, may even violate National Collegiate Athletic Association rules.

i also like how he “starred at Duke and coached in the Big East and Big Ten conferences.” we can’t even get a real shout out? ugh. i guess a 43-53 conference record will do that. hiyo. anyway, i just like how amaker is ushering in a “new era” of shadiness for harvard sports. a more succinct description of his shenanigans here.

also, if you needed any other michigan sports-related news to take pride in, our dear women’s basketball coach showing the composure of a true michigan man:

embed to come … still working on some blog bugs.

and yes, it’s before 8am as a write this post. just got off a redeye and went straight to work. did you know there are no eating facilities open at 6:45? my stomach hates me right now.